New Intel Gaming PC

[Pulse_Crawler]

Edit: Setup changed, see post below.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+65W Dual Core (Socket AM2)2.5GHz
Heat Sink: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro silent Heat Sink with Fan
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SATAII (WD5000AAKS)
Memory: Kingston KVR800D2N5K2/4G
Motherboard:
Power Supply: Antec TRUEPOWER TRIO 650W 120MM FAN
Video Card: Asus EN8800GT/HTDP/1G

Is the potential setup. I still need to find a motherboard that is suitable for this PC (must have ethernet, stay as cheap as possible with no real interest in future upgrades aside from possibly more RAM). Also taking any advice.

Would an Intel setup be better and just as cheap? I'm not into overclocking. It will have two DVD burners, two to three HDDs and a SB sound card in it also. Will be running WinXP Home. Any other info that's needed, just ask.

 

[shadowduck]

Intel setup will run circles around AMD and still have some left over to go again.

Q: Do you have high end speakers? Otherwise, a sound card is a waste of resources unless you already have it.

If you stay with AMD this motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131289


Intel setup:

CPU: E2180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116052

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087
If you do decide to get a 64-bit OS (Vista Home Prem for example, get this):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231120
Actually get that RAM even if you go AMD, I use this very RAM and it is good stuff. I have clocked DDR2-667 (the 2GB kit) @ 3-3-3-10.

Hard Drive: FIne
CPU Cooler: Just fine, but its a shame not to overclock

Video Card: 1GB card is a waste of the extra money, has little/no benefit, in tests the FPS were no different between 512MB and 1GB cards.

PSU: Overkill for this system, get this one instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...oduct.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024&Tpk=Sonta+III

 

[sweetpants]

Memory:
Buying 4GB of RAM makes little sense if you are going to run WinXP home. 32-bit OS cannot access more than 3.5GB of it. XP Home is limited to 3GB.

just to nit-pick.

How much the 32-bit OS uses of 4GB of memory depends on how much of the memory addresses are required for the I/O subsystem. It may be more or less depending. I've seen it dip as low as 3-3.2GB or stay as high as 3.8GB of useable memory. *shrugs*

 

[roadrunner197069]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130226069263

 

[sailer]

For a lighter view of things;

While Shadowduck is correct that a Win 32 bit OS won't see the whole 4 gig of ram, at the cheap price ram is at the moment, it won't hurt and it will allow for a later change to a 64 bit OS later on if you decide to make the change. An alternative, if you haven't already bought the OS, is to get XP64 Pro instead of XP 32 home. XP64 Pro will recognize up to 8 gig of ram should you ever decide to get more ram.

I think the Antec 900 is a great case, though again, Shadowduck is correct about your chosen PSU is more than you need. A PSU of 500wt to 500wt is plenty large.

I do think a separate sound card is an advantage, as it unloads the CPU and usually will give better sound than what a motherboard provides, along with allowing a few extra FPS when playing games, not many, but the 3-5 FPS may make a difference between whether a game is annoying to see or is comfortably playable.

I'd likewise skip the 1 gig video card and choose a 8800 GTS 512 over the 8800 GT. The GTS version has better cooling and is quieter.

An Intel CPU based machine would be much better if overclocking, but as you say you aren't interested in that, the AMD 4800 will work fine. If you have the money though, a higher rated AMD chip would be better. For that matter, since you're adding a heatsink anyway, you might check out the 5000+ BE. Its a great chip for the price.

 

[daft]

hope you realized that the heat sink is core 2 only

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

 

[shadowduck]

Oh good find daft. They make an AMD version. Make sure you get the right one OP!

 

[Pulse_Crawler]

Ok, with things taken into consideration, I've come up with:

Case: Antec Sonata III
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 2.4Ghz(BX80557E4600) Dual Core, 64-Bit
Heat Sink: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro silent Heat Sink with Fan
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SATAII (WD5000AAKS)
Memory: Kingston KVR800D2N5K2/4G
Video Card: BFG GF 8800GTS OC 512MB GDDR3
Motherboard:

Would anyone be able to recommend a mobo from the Asus P5 series? I think that would give me a build I could be happy with.

The OS will eventually be upgraded. There are a few things I will be keeping from my current PC and throwing into this one just to save money at the moment. Just looking for a decent base.

 

[fjabad]

AMD barebones kit for $200, enjoy!
http://www.tigerdirect.com/email/wem1628.asp?SRCCODE=HARDOCPFORUMEMA&cm_mmc_o=ZzypR2VCjC-KeCjCdByAFlCjCdByAFl


Add a few components, you're good to go

source: http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MzI3MDcsLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdCwsLDE=

 

[San Pedro]

Consider the 640gb WD hard drive, it's not much more than the 500. A great LGA 775 motherboard for the price is the gigabye P35 DS3L.

 

[WR2]

I like ShadowDuck's choice of PSU Corsair 550VX $80 after rebate and $9.71 shipping
But if you act quick you can snag the Corsair 650TX $80 after rebate and free shipping

 

[sailer]

I like ShadowDuck's choice of PSU Corsair 550VX $80 after rebate and $9.71 shipping
But if you act quick you can snag the Corsair 650TX $80 after rebate and free shipping

The Sonata III case that Shadowduck pointed out comes with a Antec Earthwatts 500wt PSU, so he won't need a separate PSU.

 

[WR2]

The Sonata III case that Shadowduck pointed out comes with a Antec Earthwatts 500wt PSU, so he won't need a separate PSU.

Of course he won't - the Earthwatts 500 is a good high efficiency PSU. And with the case/psu combo price its a slam dunk deal. The EA500 PSU alone is $90 so its like getting the case for free!
[:wr2:2] If he had that choice listed at the time I started writing my reply I wouldnt have made that post [:wr2:5]

@ OP - Even if you havent settled on your entire list don't let that great deal slip away on the 31st of May.

 

[darkstar01]

Actually you should forget the choice of mobo and cpu and go with a Intel Q6600 (quad core 2.4ghz) roughly 225-275$ Its the best cpu for the price/speed ratio. MUCH faster than the Duo series and runs XP, Vista, etc... and all OS's show the four cpu cores..
I only wish it was Hyper Threading and Quad core... would be like having 8 cpu's but in reality 4 real cpu cores..

Trust me its blazing fast, I get roughly 80-100fps in Age of Conan, and 100-180fps in World of warcraft.

Your choice in memory is great, I love the KVR800D2N5K2/4G4GB I have 4gb and get roughly 3.8gb in WinXP pro with the Asus, in Windows 2008 data center server I have 8gb You can also go with windows 2003 server advanced which supports 8gb. You can download the windows 2008 server data center demo for free, like 180days.. then just use the program on the net that resets the demo every few months... I have a legal copy, but not overyone does.

For your motherboard go with a nice SLI board from Asus Remember it has to be Socket LGA775 for it to work with the Intel Q6600 cpu. I suggest getting the one that supports PC-1066 or PC-1333, best bet would be to get one with backwards compatibility with some other formats to so you can always buy cheaper and upgrade at a later time..
i.e. a board that supports 533, 633, 800, 900, 1066, 1333mhz DDR2 ram.. I would NOT reccomend DDR3 yet as the manufacturing has not been perfected and any products out are insanely expensive and very unstable if overclocked. (so dont overclock the memory... duh) I dont think its worth paying 500-600$ for 4gb of ram just to get the DDR3 stuff... unless you feel like wasting money for a "mini" performance increase.

DDR2 versus DDR3
The differences aren't worth it.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/ddr2_vs_ddr3/12.html
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2007/06/12/ddr2-vs-ddr3-tested-head-to-head
http://www.digit-life.com/articles3/cpu/ddr2-800-vs-ddr3-1333.html

I honestly think DDR3 will be worth it once it reaches DDR3-2000
then you will see substantial gains in performance warranting the high priced sticks of ram.

 

[sailer]

If he had that choice listed at the time I started writing my reply I wouldnt have made that post [:wr2:5]

That happens. I know there have been times I've been writing and someone else beat me to an answer or subjects change before I'm finished. But at least the matter is clear.